Was Morrissey ever optimistic?
October 17, 2017 4:59 AM   Subscribe

I'm thinking about my next tattoo and I want to include a lyric written by Morrissey somewhere in it. But something...upbeat.

I'm a bit more of an optimistic, extroverted, happy person than most Morrissey/Smiths lyrics would indicate. So while I love "rejection is one thing but rejection from a fool is cruel", it doesn't really fit this 42-year old married mother of three, you know?

My only idea at this point is "now my heart is full" which is fine but not perfect. Would love something maybe slightly more, you know, Morrissey.

Help!
posted by pyjammy to Media & Arts (18 answers total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
Sing Your Life?
posted by crocomancer at 5:04 AM on October 17, 2017 [2 favorites]


"Sheila Take a Bow"

Boot the grime of this world in in the crotch, dear.

Come out and find the one that you love and who loves you.
posted by hydrophonic at 5:49 AM on October 17, 2017 [5 favorites]


It’s a “Smiths” song (so somewhat a downer) but I always liked the line “a rush and a push and the land that we stand on is ours”
posted by bitdamaged at 5:53 AM on October 17, 2017 [8 favorites]


From “Rubber Ring:”

And when you're dancing and laughing
And finally living
Hear my voice in your head
And think of me kindly
posted by ejs at 5:58 AM on October 17, 2017 [2 favorites]


Kind of uplifting? "There is a light that never goes out." I mean, with some good ol melancholy mixed in there for sure. But I find it hopeful.
posted by fiercecupcake at 6:06 AM on October 17, 2017 [21 favorites]


"If it's not love then it's the bomb that will bring us together"
posted by cincinnatus c at 6:24 AM on October 17, 2017 [8 favorites]


"Let the right one in"
posted by cakelite at 6:29 AM on October 17, 2017 [1 favorite]


"It takes strength to be gentle and kind."
posted by corey flood at 6:33 AM on October 17, 2017 [10 favorites]


If you can manage to ignore the rest of the lyric, "I want to live and I want to love." (From Frankly, Mr. Shankly.)
posted by DestinationUnknown at 6:39 AM on October 17, 2017


"My faith in love is still devout."
posted by Capt. Renault at 6:50 AM on October 17, 2017 [3 favorites]


"The more you ignore me, the closer I get."

"It's so easy to laugh, it's so easy to hate. It takes guts to be gentle and kind."

"Ere thrice the sun done salutation to the dawn"

"Accept yourself"

"I just might die with a smile on my face after all."

"Amid concrete and clay and general decay, nature must still find a way."
posted by 4ster at 7:09 AM on October 17, 2017 [3 favorites]


"UNITE AND TAKE OVER!"
(Shoplifters of the World)

One of my favorites:
"I can smile about it now/ but at the time it was terrible."
(Shakespeare's Sister)

"I am human and I need to be loved."
(How Soon Is Now)

"FOUND FOUND FOUND"
("Found Found Found")

"What I do know--is we're here and it's now."
(Stretch Out & Wait)

Like the other commenters, I add the caveat that in most of these the surrounding lyrics totally undercut whatever optimism's there.
posted by miles per flower at 7:15 AM on October 17, 2017 [2 favorites]


"There is no one on earth I'm afraid of" is from Irish Blood, English Heart.
posted by soelo at 7:18 AM on October 17, 2017 [1 favorite]


The good life is out there, somewhere
So stay on my arm, you little charmer

I also love this question. I've always wanted to get "that's nothing, you should hear me play piano" tattooed on me somewhere.
posted by jdl at 7:20 AM on October 17, 2017 [5 favorites]


That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore:

"And on cold leather seats
Well, it suddenly struck me
I just might die with a smile on my face after all"
posted by jabes at 7:46 AM on October 17, 2017


I have wanted "it takes strength to be gentle and kind" on my bicep for over 20 years.

(Related: Chris Gethard.)

Other suggestions:

- "do your best and don't worry"

- "give yourself a break before you break down"

- "how I love all of the very simple things of life"

- "there are paupers and peers who have problems"

- "after all these years I find I'm ok by myself"

- "I'll fight to the last breath"

- "I'm still right here where I always was"

- "has the world changed, or have I changed?"

- "but you know where you came from
you know where you're going
and you know where you belong"
posted by elsietheeel at 11:27 AM on October 17, 2017


"There just might come a time..." would be a good one, whether or not followed by the refrain, "when you need some friends."
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 4:39 PM on October 17, 2017


If you can manage to ignore the rest of the lyric, "I want to live and I want to love." (From Frankly, Mr. Shankly.)

Actually I think not ignoring the rest of the lyric makes it even more jubilant and joie-de-vivre: "I want to catch something that I might be ashamed of"
posted by rabbitrabbit at 11:56 AM on October 18, 2017 [1 favorite]


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